![]() Most of the rest are recharged every three to five months The newer LSD batteries probably alter this picture considerably. I recharge about half of my non-LSD batteries every couple of months. However, most of my rechargeable batteries are going strong after three years, with no sign of weakening. In my experience, this happens more frequently with some of the cheapest brands, but by no means with all of the cheapest brands. Once in a while I find a battery that stops holding a complete charge and goes out much sooner. If you take care of your rechargeable batteries, as described in What to Do, in Brief, they will, according to the manufacturers, last for between 500 and 1,000 charge/discharge cycles. ![]() In addition, the new LSD rechargeable batteries, explained in the following paragraph, provide a charged shelf life that is as practical as the shelf life of ordinary single-use batteries. Their capacity equals or exceeds ordinary single-use alkaline batteries. The higher capacity rechargeable batteries today have nearly three times the capacity of what was readily available a few years ago. Rechargeable batteries are much better than they used to be. The purpose of this page is to help you avoid the mistakes I made, and to achieve the dramatic long-term reductions in both cost and waste generation that rechargeable batteries can provide. My first foray into the world of rechargeables was neither happy nor cost effective. I am pleased with the change, but I had a rough start. I now use rechargeable batteries for almost everything in my home that uses batteries of the sizes, AAA, AA, C, D, and 9 volt. I made the switch to rechargeable batteries over three years ago. Furthermore, I don’t need to concern myself with completely using up batteries to avoid wasting money or natural resources, not to mention the energy needed to manufacture and ship both the batteries and the materials to make the batteries. I have not had a battery go dead on me in the middle of an important task since I made the switch to rechargeables. If for any reason I want fresh batteries in an electrical device, I just pop out the batteries and charge them, or swap them for some others that I have already charged. I pay for them once every five or more years. There is an ease and a freedom that come with rechargeable batteries. I also hate not knowing when my batteries are going to conk out. ![]() Single-use (ordinary) batteries, sometimes called primary batteries by the manufacturers, have gotten so expensive that I feel am throwing away cash when I buy them. I hate throwing batteries away when they die. If you are in a hurry to just buy some rechargeable batteries and a charger, and you don’t want to make a formal study of the subject as I do, skip the following introduction and just read the section entitled, What to Do, in Brief. This page will help you and your entire household almost completely avoid single-use batteries. Battery chargers come with a variety of characteristics, as well. The characteristics of the three types of rechargeable batteries are described below. They are Nickel-Cadmium (NiCd), which are the oldest type Nickel-Metal Hydride (NiMH), which were developed around the same time that low-cost digital cameras were invented and a new type of NiMH battery, called Low Self Discharge (LSD). There are three types of rechargeable batteries. For a brief description of other types of rechargeable batteries, see Electrical Storage, Present, Past and Future. The following insight addresses rechargeable replacements for single-use batteries of the sizes AAA, AA, C, D, and 9 volt. This page was first posted in 2005 and is a personal perspective of a Department of Resources, Recycling, and Recovery (CalRecycle) staff person who is an avid user of rechargeable batteries.
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